And he hit out at what he said was a prurient fascination with allegations that Mr Thomson used union funds to pay for prostitutes.

"People are absolutely pruriently fascinated by this one. The allegations in these 322 paragraphs cover about $200,000 or $300,000. Someone seems very, very fascinated with the allegations with respect to $7,000, which is the total amount of these prurient allegations. "

"He was secretary of it for five or six years. In that time he of course spent that much money running the office. He had to pay the payroll, he had to pay the rent, he had to pay the light bill, he had to purchase the stationery, he had to run conferences.

"Of course he spent that much money in that time. He hasn't misappropriated one cent, he hasn't improperly spent one cent."

Investigations by the New South Wales and Victorian police into Mr Thomson and the HSU are still underway.